


Let Us Remain

by Lycoriseum



Series: Solistre & Shadowheart [4]
Category: Baldur's Gate, baldur's gate 3
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28192257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lycoriseum/pseuds/Lycoriseum
Summary: More memories have been taken from Shadowheart, but no one is the wiser. Until Solistre realises Shadowheart doesn't quite remember her.
Relationships: Shadowheart (Baldur's Gate)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Solistre & Shadowheart [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047412
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Let Us Remain

The streets of Baldur's Gate are less busy than Solistre remembers; unsurprising, given the fear and paranoia a mind flyer attack had struck into its citizens' hearts. With less people roaming the city, it is harder to remain unnoticed, but most of them move with newfound haste to remain off the streets as much as possible – which guarantees less attention on the odd figure lurking in corners.

Solistre is under guise as a sun elf, with earth-coloured hair and eyes of gold; she leaves her hood around her shoulders, not wishing to draw more attention to herself, the only one lingering in this particular alleyway for the last two hours. Having trained as a shadowblade since childhood, Solistre has patience enough to wait in the same spot for days, be it for surveillance or for the right moment to strike. On this day, however, her heart refuses to settle into the calm beats of a patient hunter; instead, it races in her chest at an agitated pace, frustrating its owner enough that she feels the urge to leave this spot in favour of action.

Shaking off the impulse, she remains in her spot opposite a bookshop and a store for oddities which few visit. Between them is a dust-covered alleyway, left untouched out of fear of what lies at the end of it – a dilapidated little shrine, housing an idol so disfigured that it's impossible to tell which god used to be worshipped there. It is this idol that inspires fear, and the unnatural chill around the shrine has given rise to countless ghost stories among the locals. Solistre had been curious, and approached it once. The hairs on her nape had stood on end then, and she'd stepped into the shadows to leave quickly, in obeisance to her instincts. She'd seen nothing then, but now she knows what it is – Shadowheart had visited this place alone on their first day in the city. Surely the shrine hides an entrance to a temple of Shar.

At the thought, Solistre's hands clench in restlessness. Shadowheart had seem unsettled when she'd first returned from her visit, and though she'd said nothing, Solistre had detected an air of dread around her companion when she'd set off for this alley again. Usually, she lets Shadowheart mind her own business – the cleric is more than capable of holding her own. But something deeper stirs her worry, and Solistre had followed Shadowheart here, waiting for her companion to return–

Movement stirs within the shadows of the opposite alleyway, and Solistre's ears prick in attention. Shadowheart emerges from the alley soon after, and Solistre releases a breath she wasn't aware of holding. Slipping away from her spot, she catches up to Shadowheart.

"Hey."

Shadowheart jerks, and Solistre sees the telltale wisps of burning light curl around her hands. They disappear quickly as Shadowheart turns to her, a hint of bewilderment in her wary expression.

When she doesn't speak, Solistre frowns. "Are you alright?"

Shadowheart's eyes harden, and she jerks her arm away when Solistre reaches for her. "I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you."

"Did you follow me here?"

Solistre hesitates. "Yes."

"What for," Shadowheart demands, displeasure evident. "Are you spying on me?"

Solistre remains quiet. Something feels…off. Shadowheart is as abrasive and suspicious as before – that is, before they knew more about each other. But Solistre is aware she may have toed a line, and answers cautiously, "No. I said, I was waiting for you. You were…vexed last night, and the same this morning. I thought I'd keep an eye out for you."

Shadowheart sneers. "How touching. You're just a regular mother hen, aren't you?"

Solistre frowns, but the half-elf doesn't seem interested in a response.

"What I do is none of your business," Shadowheart warns, a threat in her tone emphasised. "So do me a favour, and back off."

She doesn't move as Shadowheart marches away, back and shoulders rigid. Solistre ponders, then decides to let her go. Perhaps Shadowheart needs time to herself.

* * *

A few days pass, and Shadowheart remains prickly, keeping a distance between herself and Solistre, like she does with everyone else. Solistre endures the cold treatment with her tongue clamped between her teeth; but a series of brush-offs later, and a significant glance from Wyll after their latest verbal slapfight, Solistre corners Shadowheart in the inn room they share.

"What's wrong?"

"Why do you ask?" Shadowheart doesn't spare her a glance, laying her armour on the bed.

"You've been acting like an asshole."

"Oh? You're one to talk."

Anger flashes through her, but Solistre takes a moment to consider her next words. "Did I do something to offend you?"

Shadowheart scowls at her. "Why do you think it's about you? And _why_ have you been hounding me lately?"

" _Because_ you're acting like a–!" Solistre sucks a breath, and reins her temper in. The preaching of an Eilistraee priestess echoes in her ears, and she curses at the memory, swatting it away. "You've been distant. Every time I try to get close or touch you, or even just _speak_ to you, you just…blow me off. Was it something I did? Is it because I followed you that day?"

Shadowheart's frown doesn't lighten, though it's mixed with a touch of confusion. "I certainly don't appreciate being followed. And I don't let _anyone_ touch me, thank you very much."

"Then, what about all the times we–"

Suspicion grows clear in grey eyes when Solistre stops abruptly. "The times we…what?"

"When we were alone?"

"What do you mean?"

Now she knows something _is_ wrong. She remains quiet, scrutinising Shadowheart as she turns recent memory over in her head. Shadowheart had seemed disturbed after her first visit to the temple, and carried an air of apprehension the night before the second visit, her arms around Solistre tighter than usual while she slept fitfully. Solistre had tried to pry Shadowheart's lips loose, but she'd never divulged the source of her anxiety.

Solistre had a fleeting fear, borne of imagination before. But it takes shape as suspicion now.

"You like night orchids," Solistre ventures – the very first things Shadowheart had shared about herself. "And you can't swim."

Shadowheart's mouth falls open in surprise, then she purses her lips into a thin line. Solistre waits, hoping against hope she would remember, but Shadowheart's scowl returns with a vengeance.

"Have you been swimming around in my head?" Shadowheart hisses, voice rising with every word. "How _dare_ you–!"

"You told me that!"

"Bullshit! I would never have told you that."

That twists a knife in her chest unexpectedly, and the pain drives her forward. "Will you just stop and _think_ for a minute!"

"And what? Play this sick little game of yours?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not–"

"No. No, and you will stop whatever the _fuck_ you're doing–"

Something snaps in Solistre, and she grips Shadowheart by the collar, wrenching her in to crash their lips together. Shadowheart gasps against her mouth, then shoves her back, and delivers a stinging punch to her jaw. Solistre staggers backwards, catching the edge of a dresser to steady herself. She cradles her aching jaw, staring at Shadowheart with a hollowness in her chest.

"Try that again, and I'll do worse than a punch," Shadowheart snarls, then storms out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

_She doesn't remember. Me. Us._

All that trust, the connection they've built. All the times they'd spent reaching for each other, riding through the pain of vulnerability together, to relish even the simple intimacy of a caress on the cheek, a kiss on bruised knuckles. All of that, and for what? To have it all taken away at a goddess' whim, for Shadowheart to treat her as if she were any other shitheel on the street? After all they'd shared?

Solistre lowers herself to the floor slowly, the weight of the world hanging over her head.

She was no stranger to having everything ripped away from her. But she hadn't expected this loss to feel like everything, all over again.

* * *

After a week of chasing leads around Baldur's Gate, they've finally gained some reprieve, while waiting for one lead to turn up promising results. While the rest indulge in luxuries the city has to offer, Solistre takes the chance to go hunting in the surrounding forest, and more importantly – to be alone. She'd spent the past week keeping – and being kept at – a distance from Shadowheart, despite their continued sharing of a room at the inn. The rest have caught onto their dispute, though they still know not why. Only Wyll had tried learning what happened and giving counsel, the gall of that man, and Solistre had left him to finish the mug of ale he'd bought for her at the bar, in hopes of loosening her lips.

Freedom lightens her steps the moment she enters the forest, and the sense of liberation peaks when she lets the disguise spell fall away. A dangerous indulgence, this close to a large city, but Solistre can't quite bring herself to care.

She doesn't start the actual hunt immediately – choosing to wander the woods methodically, getting a feel for the environs. Only when the sun starts to set, casting the forest in a warm, orange hue, does she start to hunt. And she is in the midst of stalking a deer when the snap of a twig in the distance causes the creature's ears to flick upright, before it bounds swiftly out of arrow range.

Solistre bites down an irritated growl. She had been aware of discrete footfalls following her into the forest – the same which had followed her all the way from the city's gates. She doubts it's an assassin – she's had too much experience with them, and knows it isn't by footsteps that she'll spot them. Not the seasoned ones, anyway. If this was an assassin, then they're sloppy, and rather stupid. Any killer with half a brain should know to wait until she emerges from the forest, and ambush her in the city, where it is easier to remain undetected in the many shadowed nooks and crannies.

A fool, then. But for what reason would a fool follow her all the way into the woods, and stay there looking for her?

A second's thought, then Solistre steps into the lengthening shadows, doubling back. She materialises on the sturdy bough of a tall tree, and feels her heart sink when she looks upon the fool tailing her.

Shadowheart.

She freezes, while Shadowheart walks slowly over the grass, taking care to step light as her eyes scan the woods without pause. Like it does every time she spots Shadowheart now, her heart twists with both resentment and affection she still cannot shake off, and she wrestles with a decision while Shadowheart starts wandering farther from her. She doesn't want to face the half-elf, not after enduring her sneers and snide remarks for the entire damned week. But if disdain was how Shadowheart treated her now, then why is she making the effort of tracking Solistre down? In such an inconvenient location?

Her heart flips, then flops, then decides it needs an answer. She disappears, and emerges from the long strip of a tree's shadow, causing Shadowheart's steps to falter.

They eye each other warily, then Solistre says, "If you're trying to kill me, this is a good spot to do it."

Shadowheart's mouth curls down, but her gaze flickers away, as she schools her expression into an impassive mask. "I'm not trying to."

"Pity."

Shadowheart tilts her head at the dry humour, gaze curious and free of judgment, and that alone threatens to light a spark of hope in her companion. Solistre clenches her jaw, and suddenly, she doesn't want answers anymore.

"Go back to the city," she says, turning her back on Shadowheart. "You're scaring my prey away."

"You hardly need to hunt, not with the city so close."

When Solistre starts to walk away, Shadowheart blurts out, "Wait!"

Her feet stop. But she doesn't turn around.

"I…need to speak with you."

"Really? That wasn't the impression I got for the past week."

"I…"

"Go back," Solistre growls, taking another step.

"Solistre."

She stops again, and hates her own weakness.

"Did we…spend a lot of time together?"

Solistre closes her eyes in a silent plea for strength. "Will you believe what I say?"

"Yes."

"We did."

Shadowheart is quiet for a moment. "I… The head priestess, she was commanded by Shar to perform the ritual on me. I didn't notice much, not at first. I can remember everything we've been through, since the nautiloid. But when I think of you, I…can't. Not much."

Her heart aches, pulling towards the other. But the ghost of a sting aches on her jaw, and she recoils. "Good for you." She takes another step.

"No, it's not."

She continues walking.

"It _hurts_ when I look at you!"

Solistre pauses, then finally turns around, seeing the plea in Shadowheart's eyes, and the fist she holds to her chest. "It feels like I should remember you, like I should know more about you, but I don't. I can't, and it…it tears at me!"

"If your goddess thinks it best that you don't remember me," Solistre says flatly. "Then maybe you shouldn't."

"I _want_ to! I need to."

"And what happens after you regain your memories? What happens when she decides she wants you to forget me again?"

"Don't," Shadowheart whispers. Her expression slowly crumbles, eyes shining, vulnerable. She takes one step towards Solistre, then another, and another, until she is close enough to cast a shadow over Solistre. "I want to remember you. _Please_."

Her voice drops to a hush, trembles in a way that Solistre feels. A long moment passes between them, Solistre fighting against the weight on her chest, before she surrenders.

She lays a hand over Shadowheart's fingers, which have found one another, and are wringing together tightly enough to turn her skin red. They grow still under her touch, and fingertips brush over her skin uncertainly. Solistre cups her face gently, and her heart skips when Shadowheart turns into her palm, eyes fluttering shut as her trembling breath grazes Solistre's skin. She strokes a thumb over Shadowheart's cheek, and Shadowheart looks back at her, gaze heavy with the burden of curiosity. They drift close; Solistre tilts her head up and Shadowheart dips down, lips meeting softly in tentative reacquaintance.

Shadowheart lingers, then draws back, looking deep into her eyes, searching. And it seems she finds what she's looking for, as she returns for another kiss – fiercer this time, burning against Solistre's, hot with desperation. Solistre groans quietly when Shadowheart's arm winds around her waist, pulling her closer, and she tilts her head, allowing Shadowheart to taste her lips in full. She loses herself in the kiss, hand trailing down to Shadowheart's nape, as a familiar burn in her gut stirs at the return of what she'd longed for.

When Shadowheart is sated and breaks away, they're breathing heavier, and she can't seem to look away.

"That didn't hurt, did it?" Solistre's breath stills at the leap she'd taken on whim.

Shadowheart smiles weakly, the faintest laugh passing her lips. "A little." Solistre's heart stops, but she continues, "Maybe you should practice more."

Disappointed, but still buoyed by Shadowheart's tease, Solistre mirrors her partner's smile. Their fingertips touch, then twine together; a promise, stronger than any spoken word.

"And who should I practice on, I wonder?"

**Author's Note:**

> Ideally, I'd stretch that Sweet Angst over a few chapters... But we don't know much about the characters yet, so just a quick one-shot to dislodge this damn brain worm for now.


End file.
